Hungary finance minister calls for 'fair and proportionate' EU recovery package

Finance Minister Mihaly Varga on Tuesday called on the European Union to act "fairly and proportionately" when mitigating the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that the EU's recovery plan was "tailor-made to fit the needs of southern states". When distributing the funding, the Commission introduced restrictions that put lower-income states at a pronounced disadvantage, Varga said. Meanwhile, the EU's draft budget for the 2021-2027 financial cycle "had been left basically unchanged", leaving Hungary with a substantial loss in cohesion funding, Varga said.